Back when I first discovered Gene Wolfe I remember reading some of his short stories and finding them generally mystifying. They were so dense as to be nearly impenetrable.

In reading this collection, I was struck by the fact that I generally found myself getting the stories, or at least thinking I'd got them. I think Wolfe has trained me to become a much more careful reader in general, and I'm on particularly high alert when reading his work.

I enjoyed this collection, but I'm pretty much an unrestrained Wolfe fanatic, so that's hardly news. I'm always impressed by his ability to write densely in so many different styles, ranging from Sherlock Holmes tributes to shared-world fantasy. It's like his special sauce that goes with any meal.

Inevitably, reading Wolfe's short stories always makes me feel a bit dumb. If you've ever read Wolfe's work, you're familiar with his very unique style. You really have to pay attention to every detail if you want to get the most out of his fiction. With his novels, there's enough different pieces in them that if you miss some you can still get a lot out of it.

However, with his short fiction, sometimes they are so oblique that I finish the story and just say "huh"? On the other hand, when I do grok the story, it's often incredibly rewarding. It's amazing just how stuff he can pack into so few pages.

I wouldn't recommend his short stories for those new to Wolfe (the Wizard Knight is probably the easiest way to start), but if you've enjoyed his novels the short stories are definitely worth a shot.

So it's 4 AM and I just finished the Wizard Knight. Good stuff, though as usual when I finish a Gene Wolfe book I'm convinced I only understood about half of it.

Gene Wolfe does it again. I just finished the first book and am working on the second. This is by far the most accessible work of his I've read, but it still has amazing depth.

The book is set in a past that mixes Arthurian, Norse, and traditional Faerie-based mythology. The first-person narrator was a modern boy (probably around 16) who somehow went back to the past, and becomes a knight and a hero. It sounds awfully cheesy, but it's not at all. I'm looking forward to finishing the second book and seeing how it all turns out.